Photo via GSA

The federal government is about to auction off a prime Southwest property that’s just a block away from the National Mall.

The General Services Administration is selling the Cotton Annex building at 300 12th Street SW. The 118,456-square-foot structure was built in 1937 and housed the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

It was approved to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015. According to the application, early workers in the space developed the processes to classify and standardize cotton, “a system that continues to serve as the basis for the valuation and utilization of cotton bales” in the U.S. The building is also significant for its Stripped Classicism design.

In 1964, a section of the cotton division moved its operations to Memphis, Tennessee. The building has had other uses over the years, but has sat vacant since 2010.

The six-story structure sits on a 1.41 acre lot, and the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue values that property at about $52.8 million, according to the Washington Business Journal, which first reported the auction. The announcement to sell the building comes nine months after the GSA scrapped a plan to trade it and a second building for construction services.

GSA’s notice suggests it will be transformed into a mix-used development.